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| Centrally Sponsored Schemes go missing | | J&K violates Supreme Court orders seeking implementation | | SYED JUNAID HASHMI
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 10: Supreme Court has ridiculed Jammu and Kashmir government for not implementing orders passed by it for implementing the schemes which either make food directly accessible to the people or provide them means to acquire the same.
The country's highest court has said that Jammu and Kashmir government has violated respective Supreme Court orders. Commissioners of Supreme Court have in their report "Hunger in Valley", vehemently raised serious questions over the claims of administrative efficiency and political vibrancy. The report is an assessment of the success and failure of the government in the implementation of food and livelihood schemes.
According to the report, Supreme Court orders passed in the right to food case have not been implemented by the Jammu and Kashmir government in their full spirit. Moreover, level of implementation varies between different schemes covered under this study. Report has stated that there are a few schemes like Public Distribution System (PDS) and Mid-day meal (MDM) which are performing far better than the schemes like Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS).
The other schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme (NREGA), National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) and National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) are hardly in place, says the report. It has categorically stated that mains reason for these schemes not performing well is the high level of unawareness among the people. Taking up the much-hyped Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) scheme, the report maintains that ration is sold at higher prices, as almost 80 percent of the respondents reported getting ration at a higher price than prescribed.
It has added that ration shops in Jammu and Kashmir are not open regularly and mandatory information like time of functioning, details of stocks, card holder names and food grain entitlements aren't being displayed at the ration shops. Entries are not being made in the ration cards, affirms report. Supreme Court (SC) has said that under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Anganwadi Centers (AWS) were to be establishment across all the districts.
Report has said that in many habitations and hamlets, AWCs have not yet been established. Moreover, the report has added that AWCs are not open every day and more than 40 percent reported that SNP is not given on every day basis. It has stressed that Anganwadi Workers do not make home visits and almost 60 percent respondents said that children aren't weighed at AWCs.
Report has said that pre-school activities are not happening mostly while preparation of the meal is decentralized but the procurement of food items is centralized which is the reason for the shortages in food supply to AWCs. Regarding Mid-day meal scheme (MDMS), report has said that quality of mid-day meal is greatly compromised and in few villages, ration being supplied by FCI is not of fair quality.
Further, the meal provided to the children is not adequate and sufficient. Besides, there are reported irregularities in the mid day meal and shortages in supply of food grains. The other main concern which the report has pointed out is long delays up to six months in the allocation of funds to the schools for procuring the food items locally, which has a large affect on the quality of the meal. About National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS), report has said that the scheme is not functional in most of the areas of Kashmir during the year 2008-09.
Citing an instance, the report has held out that of 143 institutional deliveries, only 9 women and only 4 out of 60 home deliveries were given benefit under the scheme. Report has said that scheme has suffered mainly due to lack of funds for its implementation in the state.
About the impact of Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), report has categorically stated that coverage of the scheme is limited. Most of the beneficiaries reported receiving an amount of just Rs. 200 under the scheme and they also talked about huge delays in delivering pension to beneficiaries and the state. Report has pointed out that Jammu and Kashmir government has been depositing pension in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries quarterly, as against the Supreme Court order and there are even delays in that as well.
National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) has been completely neglected. Hence, coverage of the scheme is very limited. Besides, almost 92 percent of the eligible persons haven't received any benefit. Further, the beneficiaries who have received any benefit have been given benefit after years of time which defy the objectives of the scheme to provide an immediate help to the family living in poverty. There is no identification mechanism for identifying the beneficiaries for the scheme.
Interestingly, report has dealt an iron blow on the claims of Jammu and Kashmir government especially the rural development ministry of Ali Mohammed Sagar on the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme (NREGA). It has said that results of the survey for NREGA are discouraging since people have not been provided job cards, and who had made demands for work under NREGA haven't been provided work within a period of 14 days as guaranteed under NREGA.
Further, very few people are getting unemployment allowance. Report has averred that wages prescribed by the state under NREGA are very less as compared to the local wage rates in the state. Also the NREGA in the state hasn't been able to provide employment during the winters which is off season of employment for daily wage workers.
It needs to be reiterated that on November 28, 2001; Supreme Court passed a significant "interim order" pertaining to all these schemes in the right to food and the order converted benefits of these nutrition-related programmes into legal entitlements and directed state and central governments to adopt specific measures to ensure public awareness and transparency of these programmes. |
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